My experience 2 weeks ago buying a Curve 8330 W/ Verizon Wireless at walmart for my 20th birthday too (kinda long and ranting but a good read!)
I went to walmart to buy a printer and browsed through the phones knowing my credit is bad/limited but I just got a few revolving lines and lowered balances and if they pull my equifax report it's in the mid 600's but the other 2 are in the 5's. So I tried t-mobile they'd only do flexpay and keep in mind I don't have any money until biweekly paycheck and only 30 bux in wallet, tried att/cingular they wanted a $750.00 deposit!! And I wasn't even going to try verizon because I know in the past they've wanted crazy deposits from me, but thinking I might get lucky and if they'd happen to pull my good report (equifax) you never know so after hanging up the walmart customer service rep for like an hour doing multiple provider credit checks for phone contracts verizon approved my single line request with 0 deposit/nothing down so I was siked.

So as I rush to the phones to see what they have at a free/discounted price (hoping to find a pda or BB) the only pda/smartphone they had which caught my eye instantly was the blackberry curve 8330 in silver for 8 dollars and some cents with the 2 year line agreement I just was approved for, so I clarified with the sales rep that the price was correct and she said yes so right away I instantly picked the BB picked out the lowest minutes plan with unlimited data which almost 100 dollars is a bit pricey for a phone for 2 years and not making much money and having to have rents pay for the bill as my bday present and since they have a tmobile contract with 2 lines they couldnt even try to switch over to VZW. But the very first time I talked to customer support for verizon wireless it literally made me smile, their customer service is the best i've ever had and their all around customer treatment is very fair and A+++. The rep reminded me to make sure I cancel the MBB 5GB broaband plan (1 month free trial) at the end of the month if I didn't want it and that she saw I did make a 411 call and that she recommends not to make alot of any because of their pricey cost(s).

And discussing my bill and billing cycle and they will pretty much ALWAYS work with you in terms of billing and paying and that they accept payment arrangments, paying a split balance and/or keeping/forwarding a balance for a few months (or even forever depending on how much you still OWE on your balance), I was very satisfied to say the least because im working minimum hours looking for a better job and 20 part time college student with living with parents arrangments. And verizon's service is GREAT always have at LEAST 2 bars when my parents tmobile phones have none in a good amount of areas and the data speed and plan options and features they have to offer is great and goes along perfectly with the blackberry as well!

Now on the phone itself, it's everything I thought it'd be and more in alot of places and lacking in just a few tiny things that really don't appeal to me but I would of liked to have but the fact it's a phone/smartphone/2 meg camera/video camera holds up to 8 gig stick (have a 2gig memory now)/mp3 player/multimedia player/multi-application basically phone that has minimum limits and it's crazy Versatility that blows my mind to crazy points!